The Making of a Superhero
A service dog’s job is not an easy job to fill.  Many dogs do not have the level of confidence, self-control, patience, problem-solving skills, or healthy level of independence required to handle the day-to-day human operations of office buildings, travel systems, public forums, restaurants and malls – no matter how much we try to make them have these skills.  Teaching a dog a specific task associated with a disability is often the easiest part; it’s building the lifestyle skills that lead to superb behavior in public venues that takes much longer.   

Service dogs, emotional support animals, therapy dogs… there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about their differences, what purpose these dogs serve, their rights to access public spaces, and what kind of training they must complete to become capable of performing their jobs.  Many people have disabilities that can be aided by a use of a service dog but they don’t know where to start in terms of their training.  Alternately, there are many people who take advantage of the loopholes in the current system just so they can take their pet dogs into stores or on airplanes with them.

What Does a Service Dog Do?
Service dogs are task-trained to assist a person with a mental or physical disability to perform certain tasks they cannot do on their own, such as guide a blind person around obstacles, serve as a brace or open drawers for a person with mobility issues, or interrupt a panic attack for a person with debilitating anxiety or PTSD.  While they do also provide companionship, this is not their primary job.